SWIM ALERT RAISES AWARENESS

Lake Watch water samples taken from the upper reaches of Lake Martin contained elevated levels of E. coli, raising concerns for our Treasured Lake

PHOTO BY AUDRA SPEARS

AA swim alert team and information dispersion procedure should be established at Lake Martin after elevated E. coli counts were discovered in early September in the upper lake, said Lake Watch Lake Martin president, Eric Reutebuch.

When water samples collected above Coley Creek measured more than 600 parts per 100 milliliters of water following heavy rains in

September, Lake Watch partnered with Lake

Martin Home Owners and Boat Owners

Association to alert boaters via a letter to membership and social media posts, Reutebuch said.

Notifications also were sent to Lake Martin

Resource Association and to public authorities, including Alabama Department of Environmental

Management, Tallapoosa County Department of

Public Health and officials in Alexander City,

Dadeville, New Site and Tallapoosa County, he added. “We were grasping for what to do. There is no system in place to notify people. We didn’t feel like Lake Watch was authorized to release a public health announcement,” he explained. “We do testing and advise public agencies. We send them our data and our recommendations, but we don’t feel like we are in a position to release public announcements.” The contaminated samples were collected north of Coley Creek, Reutebuch said. Samples collected below the creek – and below Alexander City’s wastewater treatment plant – were well within

ADEM’s specified safe range, under 235 ppm, he explained. Test results from the water samples were available two days after the water was drawn, he said. “That was the first time we got high levels of E. coli in the upper lake. We have had it in the creeks before but never in the main stem of the reservoir,” Reutebuch said. The bacteria likely washed into the lake and its tributary creeks and streams during a heavy rain event associated with Hurricane Ida, which dropped in excess of 3 inches of rain throughout the watershed, Reutebuch surmised. Additional samples have not been drawn above

Coley Creek since the discovery was made, but samples collected below Coley Creek continue to test in the safe range, Reutebuch said.

“A couple of days after the high hit, we sampled again at Stow Ferry Road and did not get E. coli,” he said.

Stow Ferry Road is located about 2 miles south of Coley Creek.

Data compiled in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Literature Review of Contaminants in Livestock and Poultry Manure and Implications for Water Quality, published in 2013, indicates the contaminants could survive in the upper reaches of the lake for 35 to 300 days, depending on exposure to sunshine, temperatures and other environmental conditions.

Auburn University’s genetic testing of E. coli samples taken from Lake Martin indicate the bacteria originated from cattle, human and poultry sources, but additional testing is needed to identify the specific sources, Reutebuch explained. If and when those sources are identified, ADEM could take action in the development of plans to prevent the pollution from entering the lake.

In the meantime, Lake Watch is working on action strategies to continue monitoring of the lake’s water and to develop an alert system for lake residents and visitors any time an area of the lake is contaminated with E. coli and unsafe for swimming. More than 20 area residents answered a recent appeal for water monitor volunteers. Reutebuch would like for the swim alert plan to include a dozen testing sites at popular swimming locations around the lake, with results posted or reported regularly through a variety of outlets, including The Outlook, lake stakeholder websites and blogs and on the theswimguide.org app.

“The Coosa River has a very good program that we could look into,” he suggested.

“We don’t want to go around sending people into a panic, and we don’t want to shut down farming, but we don’t want to minimize the potential danger,” he said. “This is Alabama’s only Treasured Lake, and we don’t want to tarnish that designation.”

Wicker Point Golf is on course

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RUSSELL LANDS ON LAKE MARTIN

Longleaf pine plantations are featured throughout the course

RRussell Lands last month unveiled the name and logo of its new Coore & Crenshaw golf course, which is under construction at Lake Martin just off state Route 63 between Ourtown and Russell Crossroads. Wicker Point Golf Club is the official name of the centerpiece of Russell Lands’ newest luxury residential development, The Heritage. The course is expected to redefine the Alabama golf experience with its distinctive setting, a variety of holes and unique amenities.

After breaking ground in March 2021, the golf course is expected to open in summer 2023. “We’re getting a lot done,” said Russell Lands’ forester, Cary Whiteard, an integral member of the golf course construction team. “The first thing we did was clear trees for the holes. That was finished in the spring, and we have focused mainly on five holes since July – numbers 16, 17, 18, 9 and 8. The goal is to get those sodded by Christmas, so the soil doesn’t move over the winter. Those holes are the ones most exposed to the weather and the lake.”

Whiteard walked the Wicker Point peninsula with renowned course architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw during the property selection phase of the project and has stayed on the team to support the architects’ vision of creating a course that